


Like Feral Cats

by ScientistSalarian



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, F/M, Humor, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-15 23:44:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11816709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScientistSalarian/pseuds/ScientistSalarian
Summary: This was a prompt fill that went in a completely different direction that I had planned. The ask was to use the phrase "Man, how many eye contact until date?" This began as humor and then angst and then a return to some humor.





	Like Feral Cats

It was rare for Sara and Tiran to have time alone but even more rare for them to have time alone somewhere other than the Nexus. A fortuitous alignment in their schedules had them both stationed in Kadara port. The air in Kralla's song was thick with the scent of sweat, alcohol and the ever-present sulfurous stench.

Kandros was seated on a couch in the corner and Sara was draped against him lounging nonchalantly. She was carefully sipping her drink and watching the crowd as the mingled. Kandros absentmindedly stroked her shoulder and cocked his head to the side as he overheard a rather odd drinken conversation between an asari and an angara.

"Man, how many eye contact until date?" the asari asked, slurring her words as she stumbled towards him.

"Ohhh this ought to be good." Kandros whispered into Ryder's ear. She snuggled in closer to him and focused on the angara's reaction.

The angara stared at the tall blue being for a moment trying to figure out what exactly she was trying to convey. "I'm sorry?" He asked her slowly backing away as she swayed closer to him.

"I looked at a face. And eyes. In the face." The woman was mumbling barely coherent at this point. Before either of them could speak again the woman proceeded to pass out on the dingy floor of the bar.

"Dammit, I was really enjoying the free entertainment." Sara sighed disappointedly. "It's been a long time since I've seen someone drunk enough to even make the translator incoherent."

Kandros nodded but didn't say anything. He seemed distracted now by something else. His eyes were narrowed, focusing on a turian sitting in the corner. The turian in question was a deep shade of gray with white facial markings. They made eye contact for a brief moment before Kandros looked away and helped Sara off the couch.

"Wait, where are we going?" she asked confused. One moment she was comfortably relaxing against her boyfriend, the next he was hurriedly ushering her out of Kralla's Song with not a word as to why.

"I'll explain in a minute." Kandros muttered as he led her out of the bar. His stance was that of someone expecting a fight. "He hasn't followed us has he?"

"Who? Tiran, what's going on..." Sara was worried. Kandros was usually so level headed. Seeing him so uneasy was putting her on edge. She glanced around but no one seemed threatening. At least not any more threatening than the usual ragtag group of misfits and criminals that made up Kadara's inhabitants.

Kandros led her to an alley behind a couple of rundown buildings. Where they stood was near a rusted out grate, a small pool of what looked and smelled like toxic sludge and a pile of garbage that looked like it had been there since the Andromeda Initiative had been conceived.

"Really Tiran?" She asked as she studied the surroundings with a look of disdain.

"Sorry this isn't exactly the most romantic location. Myself and that turian from the bar that was sitting in the corner, well we didn't exactly leave the Milky Way on the best of terms." Kandros began the explanation slowly as he surveyed the surroundings. "Back on Palaven he resented my ties to the turian hierarchy. More than once he accused me of benefiting from nepotism..." Peering around the corner Kandros trailed off as his train of thought got derailed by his paranoia.

"Ok so he thought you were an entitled rich kid, so what?" Sara asked with a growing sense of confusion. Surely someone with a military background could handle a bit of name calling.

"He resented me for getting certain privileges that he didn't get, I got missions that usually someone with my level of clearance wasn't authorized for. Stuff like that. The groundwork for his hatred for me was already laid but during the uprising, things got...heated between us." Kandros' mandibles flicked as he remembered their confrontation. His eyes flashed and Sara touched has hand gently. She knew there had to be more to the story.

"He and I got into a fight and it was more than just him calling me names. I had no idea how much resentment he harbored for me until that day. It was obvious that we weren't friends but I had no idea he blamed me for being in charge of a mission that had gotten his girlfriend killed. He was supposed to be the one in charge of that mission but at the last minute they switched him out for me. I wasn't given much information and apparently neither was he. Needless to say, during the uprising he figured it would be the perfect time to exact his revenge on me, with weapons...and talons..." Kandros' voice got quieter as he regaled Sara with the tale.

"Shit..." Sara didn't know what else to say. She had no idea about that particular part of his past. "Do you think he'll try to kill you if he gets the chance?"

"He tried once so I don't see why he'd suddenly decide against the idea. The last thing I'd want is for you to get caught up in this though. He thinks I'm directly responsible for the death of his girlfriend, I'd hate for him to be responsible for the death of mine." He said the words plainly but it was clear that the very thought of someone harming Sara because of him, pained him to his very core. "Anyway, that's why I pulled us out of that bar so quickly." He admitted, feeling a sense of shame as he spoke. He had never been one to shy away from a fight but he felt his first duty was making sure that this personal vendetta didn't put her in harm's way.

"You are the head of the militia and I am a biotic. A very powerful one at that. I don't want you worrying about me, Tiran." As harrowing as the situation was, Sara felt that she had taken on worse opponants in battle.

"With all due respect, you do have a very bad habit of dying, Sara." The words were drier than the sands of Eos. Sara rolled her eyes but she couldn't deny that she hadn't been the best at staying alive as of late.

"Ok, my weaknesses aside, what do you plan on doing? You can't run from this guy forever. I doubt you'd want to either." The two of them emerged from the alley and began to walk back towards the main hub of Kadara Port.

"It's about running from him," Kandros began pensively. "I hate knowing that every time he sees me, he is confronted with the death of someone he loved. I don't blame him for wanting to kill me to be honest. What could I even say to him anyway that wouldn't sound self-serving? What's done is done, that's the reality of war."

Sara looked down at her feet for a moment contemplating his words. She knew he was right but it certainly wasn't a solution to the problem at hand. She took a deep breath and looked at him curiously. "Do you blame yourself the way he blames you?"

Kandros looked at her and his eyes gave her the answer to her question. "I do." He said quietly. "I was in commend and I lost people. Their lives were my responsibility. I wonder sometimes what would have happened if I'd done things differently. It won't help, in fact all it does is breed madness but sometimes the mind can't help but run scenarios."

Small lanky arms wrapped around Kandros' bulky turian body. She held him close and rested the side of her cheek against his chest. She wasn't going to tell him it would be ok, or that it wasn't his fault or any of the other platitudes that people offer when they don't know what else to say. She simply and wordlessly let him know that she was there for him. He wrapped his arms around her as well and they stood there blanketed in the comfort of each others' embrace.

They walked back towards the docking bay and there waiting was the turian in question. He spotted Kandros right away and they stood there frozen for a moment like feral cats meeting in an alley.

"Rentus," Kandros spoke the man's name earnestly. He didn't know how to continue though.

"Kandros." he responded in kind.

Sara's eyes darted between the two of them unsure of what to expect. Anything from a polite but terse exchange of words to an all out brawl was possible at this point. She didn't make a move though. She knew it wasn't her place to get involved in the unfinished business of others.

"I'm not going to go after you this time." Rentus said with a cold edge to his voice. It was obvious that he was holding back his rage. Even his words didn't deflate the tension building between them.

"That's good to hear." Kandros answered trying to sound good-natured but not too friendly. He didn't want to do anything to put their fragile truce in jeopardy.

"I have a life here now." Rentus' voice had a deeper timbre to it that showed the conflicting emotions he had churning through him. "I have a life here and I'm not about to ruin it by killing you." He spat the words in Kandros' direction and continued. "I may have to live with the grief of losing her but you have to live with the guilt, and that's enough for me now."

Rentus turned his back to the Sara and Kandros and walked away. He had said his piece, he didn't need any more from either of them. Kandros however, just stared after him. He watched as Rentus' form grew smaller as he slowly disappeared from view.

"Well, that went better than expected." Kandros said wryly, trying his best to dispell the tension. "I mean, it wasn't like last time where he came at me claws first and a gun aimed at me."

"I guess that is fortuitous." Sara replied not knowing how to react. "Are you ok with what he said to you though. I mean that was pretty brutal."

"It was honest." Kandros answered. "And I'm glad that he's got a life for himself now. He wasn't a bad man before all this happened, just ambitious and in love and I became the barrier to both."

"That's actually a really good way to look at it I suppose." Sara couldn't help but be impressed by both Kandros' practicality and his compassion towards the man that had at one point tried to murder him.

"I do what I can to keep myself sane." He replied. He put his arm around Sara's waist and finally allowed himself a deep sigh of relief. "Oh shit, look, our old friend is back." He said surprised.

"Rentus is back?" Sara asked alarmed.

"No, look over there." Kandros pointed to where the drunken asari from earlier in the night was staggering around. She had the most undignified grin on her face and she was talking to her reflection in a pool of un-filtered water.

"Hey beautiful...you want to come home with me tonight?" Her words were a bit more coherent than before but she still looked rather inebriated.

"Is she...trying to flirt with her own reflection?" Sara asked incredulously.

As if she was deliberately answering Sara's question, the asari spoke again, her face still facing her reflection in the pool. "Oh yes, you and I are going to have so much fun! Ohh! You're even smiling at me!"

"It appears that she is." Kandros said. He couldn't help but laugh at the odd series of events the night had taken. Book-ended between emotional turmoil was an odd drunk person with more self esteem than the entire Andromeda galaxy combined.

"Well, I've manged to take you on what must be the worst date of your life so from here on out, it's your call. I'm obviously cursed." He mused.

"How about we go back to your room, have a hot bath and I can tell you about the actual worst date I've ever been on." Sara said giving him a deathly serious look.

"Worse than learning about how your boyfriend got the love of someone's life killed and then hiding so that person doesn't murder us because that is hard to top." Kandros said.

"Let's just say it involved nudity, elcor poetry readings, an angry varren and some sushi from Sur'kesh that had definitely gone off." Sara's words sounded like the beginning of a joke but her eyes conveyed the truthfulness of her claim.

"You know what, how about we share that bath but you save that story for another time. I've had enough emotional distress for one evening."

"Fair enough." Sara said partially relieved that she didn't have to go into anymore detail. She took Kandros' hand into hers and they walked off together.


End file.
